Hope and change

One of the things we know to be true about Americans is that they're willing to accept and forgive a president's failure if that president is open and honest about his failures.

Our late President Ronald Reagan found out the hard way when he was asked the following question during a news conference at the height of the Iran-Contra affair: "Wouldn't it just be the right thing to do to tell the American people that what you approved at the time, you thought was best for the American people?"Instead of simply saying yes, Reagan gave the typical political non-answer and, to this day, instead of it being a mute issue, the Iran-Contra scandal remains a black mark on his presidency.

The same principal can be applied to our current President Barack Obama.

Obama inherited a bad economic situation, but he was elected because he promised Hope and Change. He has brought Change, the economy is worse, and a great deal of voters now Hope that he will not be re-elected.

The sad thing is that people's loss of respect for his job performance can only be blamed on him.

His vocabulary was too often devoid of the word "we" and the phrase "I take responsibility." Instead, he chose to use an abundance of "I"'s and, like every American president with the probable exception of George Washington, he blamed the ills of the country on others.

Had Obama been honest and accountable, true American patriots would have lined up to support him, because deep down in our American spirit we do have a respect for the office of the president.

The president's re-election theme is "Forward;" it would be great if he actually built up an honest trust with the American people so we could follow him forward.